There are
many heroic legends surrounding Finn MacCool, comparisons have been drawn
between him and the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table. Finn was reputed as being the leader of the Fianna, the guardians of
the King of Ireland. Formed the Fianna from a rough bunch of warriors into an
elite group of men who transformed under his command
into the manifestation of justice and honour, they were
the people's heroes. Finn's famous son whose mother was
the goddess Sadb, is said to be buried in Glenaan.
It is worth noting that many of the great legends of
Ireland are based or linked to the north coast of
Ulster, There must be some correlation between
this and the fact that Whitepark Bay was where man first
settled in Ireland. However in
this section we will concentrate on his role in
building the Giants Causeway. The story goes thus:-

Finn a
renown warrior was going about his daily duties on the
north coast when one of his adversary, a Scottish giant
called Benandonner started shouting and ridiculing
Finn's fighting prowess.
This
angered Finn who lifted a lump of earth and pelted it to Scotland as a
challenge to this giant. The Scottish giant retaliated with a rock back
to Finn shouting
that if he could get his hand on him, he would make sure that Finn would
never fight again adding that unfortunately he could not swim the short distance across the
Channel, so Finn would be spared that fate. Finn got enraged by this
and tore large pieces from the cliffs, he worked for over a
week pushing these into the ocean bed and made a sturdy causeway to
Scotland, when he had finished he shouted 'Now you'll had no
excuse' to come over and do your best. Fearing to lose his own
reputation and pride the Scottish giant had no
alternative but come over the causeway. Finn was
tired, having not slept for the week he worked on the causeway
and did not feel ready for fighting. He thought about how he could buy
some time and recuperate to face the Scottish giant and came up with an ingenious plan.
Quickly he made a large cot and disguised himself as a baby ...... and waited. The Scottish giant arrived at Finn's house shouting, 'Where is that coward MacCool',
Finn's wife said the he was away but sure sit down and
have a cup of tea, he'll not be long. the tea arrived
with a cake in which Finn's wife had placed some stones.
Benandonner took a bite and broke one of his teeth, and
thought to himself, this Finn must be a tough boyo
to eat cakes like this, not to be outdone, he
finished off the cake and tea, breaking two more teeth
in the process. He noticed the
baby cot and the baby inside it and his eyes widened in
fear, he thought to himself, my goodness if this is the
size of the baby? What size is the Father? He
reached his hand in to touch the sleeping baby, half out
of curiosity and half as a sign of affection, Finn
bit the tip of his finger off. Benandonner was
shocked by this and thought to himself, if this is what
the baby is capable of, what must the father be capable
of and what could he not do! This thought terrified him,
the fear got the better of him and took to his heels and ran like he had never ran before,
back across the causeway to Scotland destroying it as he went.
Well.....that is one version of the story, there are many more to choose
from, including one of love and romance.